A note on Shannon’s entropy as an index of product variety

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A note on Shannon’s entropy as an index of product variety

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Straathof,Bas (MERIT)

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Sebastiaan (Bas) Michael Straathof

Abstract

This note shows that the antilog of Shannon’s entropy is a suitableindex of product variety for three reasons. First, for symmetricproduct types it is equal to the number of product types. Second, disaggregationof the underlying product set always leads to an increasein measured product variety. Third, the introduction or disappearanceof a marginal type does not cause a discrete change in the variety index.These properties hold for a class of weights that includes, but isnot limited to, frequencies.

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Paper provided by Maastricht : MERIT, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology in its series Research Memoranda with number 031.

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Date of creation: 2003
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Handle: RePEc:dgr:umamer:2003031

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NEP-ALL-2003-12-14 (All new papers)

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Straathof,Bas, 2003. "Variety-robust axiomatic indices," Research Memoranda 028, Maastricht : MERIT, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology. [Downloadable!]
Frenken, Koen & Saviotti, Paolo P. & Trommetter, Michel, 1999. "Variety and niche creation in aircraft, helicopters, motorcycles and microcomputers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 469-488, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)

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